Dr. David Honey

ACTING DEPUTY DIRECTOR DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY

Dr. David Honey is the acting deputy director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He also serves on a joint duty assignment in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and as a special assistant to the DARPA director, where he facilitates the information exchange between the Intelligence Community and DARPA. This is Honey’s second tour at DARPA. Prior to his assignment as the Acting Deputy Director of DARPA, he served as the acting director of the Strategic Capabilities Office.

Honey previously served as the director, Science and Technology, and as the assistant deputy director of National Intelligence for Science and Technology (2011-2017) in ODNI.

From 2009 to 2011, Honey served as the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Research in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. He was responsible for oversight of Department of Defense science and technology programs from basic research through advanced technology development.

From 2007 to 2009, Honey was the Defense Sector general manager and a senior vice president in a small business pursuing innovations in the fields of advanced sensors, communications, unmanned aerial vehicles, and undersea warfare technology. During this time, Honey also served on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.

In his first DARPA tour (1997 to 2007), Honey was the director of DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office, director of the Advanced Technology Office, and the deputy director of and program manager in the Microsystems Technology Office. During this time, he led efforts in optoelectronics, networks, communications, information assurance, network-centric warfare applications, information assurance, sensor systems, space and near-space sensors and structures, maritime technology, underground facility detection and characterization, alternative energy, and chemical-biological defense.

Honey is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who began his military career as a pilot (B-52D/H and FB-111) and later transitioned into managing a wide variety of technical programs involving intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

Honey holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in solid state science from Syracuse University, a Master of Science in optical science from the University of Arizona, a Master of Science in engineering physics from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), and a Bachelor of Science in photographic science from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Selected DARPA Achievements

In the early days of DARPA’s work on stealth technology, Have Blue, a prototype of what would become the F-117A, first flew successfully in 1977. The success of the F-117A program marked the beginning of the stealth revolution, which has had enormous benefits for national security.

ARPA research played a central role in launching the Information Revolution. The agency developed and furthered much of the conceptual basis for the ARPANET—prototypical communications network launched nearly half a century ago—and invented the digital protocols that gave birth to the Internet.

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